Problems With Pine Trees

Asked April 23, 2019, 10:33 AM EDT

A customer brought these samples in along with photos of problems he is having with his pine trees. Some are Red Pines, some are blue spruce and regular spruce. The problems lie with mostly the younger trees including saplings. Can you help with identifying the disease?

1 Response

It's very hard to tell what is actually causing the problem from your photos. The symptoms are the same for a number of problems. First, the tree and sample are not spruce but a true fir. My guess would be Fraser fir. The browning could be from too little or too much water, maybe Armillaria or Phytophthora root rot or winter injury. The pine could be winter injury. Do you find any evidence of insect damage to the shoot? Perhaps Diplodia tip blight? I would send samples to MSU Diagnostic Services www.msu.edu or the Benzie County MSU Extension Office